History of Happiness Studies

History of Happiness Studies

Economics, the "dismal science," has traditionally been concerned with the competition between supply and demand, and concerns itself more with the market than with people. But even from the time of Aristotle, the importance of happiness in one's life has long been recognized. Many important economists and philosophers have included the concept of happiness in their works.

Jeremy Bentham

In the 18th century, Jeremy Bentham, a leading English jurist, philosopher, and social and legal reformer, proposed that public policy should maximize happiness in society. In other words, the policies of the government should help to make its citizens happier! This lead to the development of economics as a study of utility of happiness.

Bentham and his "utilitarian" economics were very influential on welfare policies.

It assumed that happiness can be compared accurately across different people. It also assumed that the utility of income is greater for rich people- in other words, richer people are happier. Thus, an important component of the welfare policies influenced by utilitarian economics tried to redistribute income so that it is more equal.

Lionel Robbins

In the early 1900s, economics was further challenged by the English economist, Lionel Robbins. He disagreed with traditional economics, and felt that the economy should take its impacts on people into deeper consideration, moving more towards the personal focus. In 1932, he published Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science, and argued that it is not necessary to know or compare a person's level of happiness in order to predict his or her behavior. Economics, to Robbins, is about "the relationship between given ends and scarce means". This helped lead to the development of "positive economics".

Robbins himself did not focus so much on the importance of happiness in economics. However, his followers did, trying to create an index for happiness. Their equation roughly equaled GDP adjusted for pollution and leisure, and still placed great importance on income.

Richard Layard

Born Peter Richard Grenville Layard, this British economist has benn one of, if not the most, influential individuals in the development of happiness studies.

Life

Richard Layard was born on March 15th, 1934. He was a King's Scholar at Eton, studied at King's College, Cambridge University, and obtained his Masters in Science (Economics) from the London School of Economics. He has held a number of different academic positions since the 1960s. He has also acted as an advisor to many organizations, including government institutions in the United Kingdom and Russia.

In 1991, Layard married Molly Christine Meacher. They now have two daughters and two sons.

In 2000, Layard became a Labour Life Peer in the House of Lords, gaining the title of Baron Layard of Highgate, London Borough of Haringey.

Work

Richard Layard has developed his reputation through his work with labor economics. Labor economics advocates the idea of "welfare-to-work" policies, where social welfare payments encourage/force recipients back into the job market. Layard has worked with, and is a supporter of, many of the economic policies of the New Labour government in the U.K.

Recently, Layard has turned his focus to Happiness Economics. He believes that income is not a good approximation for happiness, and argues that there are three major social factors that are often overlooked:

    -social comparisons
    -adaptation
    -changing tastes

Layard concludes that government policies and taxes should serve another purpose beyond paying for